We’ll keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, says Israel

Israel warned Friday that it would keep striking Lebanon until militant group Hezbollah has been disarmed, hours after hitting south Beirut in what Lebanese leaders called a major violation of a November ceasefire.

Thursday’s attacks on what the Israeli military said were underground Hezbollah drone factories came after an Israeli evacuation call on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a key Muslim religious festival, and sent huge numbers of residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs fleeing.

It was the fourth and heaviest Israeli bombardment of the heavily populated area, known as a bastion of support for Hezbollah, in the six months since a ceasefire deal aimed at ending hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The last attack was in late April.

AFP photographers on Friday saw huge destruction as residents, some wearing masks, inspected the still-smouldering debris and damage to their homes.

“There will be no calm in Beirut, and no order or stability in Lebanon, without security for the State of Israel,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

“Agreements must be honoured and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force.”

The state-run National News Agency reported around a dozen strikes, while Health Minister Rakan Nassereldine said several people were wounded by glass shrapnel.

Hezbollah sparked months of deadly hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in what it described as an act of solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack.

– ‘Refusal to cooperate’ –
Lebanon’s leaders accused Israel of a “flagrant” ceasefire violation by launching strikes ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

President Joseph Aoun late on Thursday voiced “firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression” and “flagrant violation of an international accord… on the eve of a sacred religious festival”, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strikes as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar on Friday urged “all Lebanese political forces… to translate their statements of condemnation into concrete action”, including diplomatic pressure, to halt the Israeli attacks.

Hezbollah backer Iran called the strikes “a blatant act of aggression against Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.

The war left Hezbollah massively weakened, with top commanders including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah killed and weapons caches incinerated.

Under the ceasefire, overseen by a monitoring committee whose members include the United States, France and United Nations peacekeepers, Lebanon should disarm Hezbollah, which was once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state itself.

A Lebanese military official told AFP the committee received no warning before the Israeli evacuation order.

The Lebanese army “attempted to go to one of the sites… but Israeli warning shots prevented it from carrying out its mission”, the official said, requesting anonymity in order to brief the media.

The Lebanese army said the Israeli military’s ongoing violations and “refusal to cooperate” with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism “could prompt the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation” on site inspections.

– Phone call –
The Israeli military had said that “following Hezbollah’s extensive use of UAVs (drones) as a central component” of its attacks on Israel, the militant group “is operating to increase production of UAVs for the next war”.

It called the activities “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

Under the truce, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.

Israel was to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon but it has kept some in five areas it deems “strategic” and has continued to launch regular strikes on south Lebanon.

The Lebanese army has been deploying in the south and removing Hezbollah infrastructure, with premier Salam saying Thursday that it had dismantled “more than 500 military positions and arms depots” in the area.

One resident of southern Beirut described grabbing her children and fleeing her home after receiving an ominous warning before the strikes.

“I got a phone call from a stranger who said he was from the Israeli army,” said the woman, Violette, who declined to give her last name.

Israel also issued an evacuation warning for the Lebanese village of Ain Qana, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border.

The Israeli military then launched a strike on a building there that it alleged was a Hezbollah base, according to the NNA.